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the_mew_of_cathulhu's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail
j_squaredd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Gore, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Grief, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Abandonment and Blood
opinkb's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Vomit, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, and Blood
silverheartbookclub's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
Moderate: Abandonment and Death of parent
eldritch_archivist's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Gave me real life anxiety reading this, absolutely shitting myself during the back half. I'm now much more afraid to read more books by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicide, Classism, and Cursing
sophee_568's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Luminous Dead is a story about one woman's descent into a dangerous cave system, which brings her close to her inevitable breaking point. Gyre Price is a 20-something inexperient caver, who signs up to explore the infamous cave system for a large sum of money. She desperately needs cash to leave her home planet in search of her lost mother. Gyre's mother abandoned her and her father when Gyre was 5yrs old. Since then, she has lived with her neglectful father and mostly taken care of herself. She taught herself to cave dive, but she has never participated in serious cave exploration until now. Gyre knew her limited experience will get her rejected for this mission, so she fluffed up her resume just a little bit. Gyre's task is to map out the previously unexplored tunnels of the cave while making sure to stay out of the path of the Tunnelers.
While inside the caves, Gyre is wearing a special type of battery-powered suit which monitors her vitals, allows communication with a team of experts, shows her sonar reconstructions of the path ahead, and makes it easier to ingest food. Before her mission, Gyre had surgery where her intestines were modified to ingest mashed food through her suit, and she had other modifications making bathroom breaks unnecessary. That was an interesting solution to the problem of wearing a suit for extended periods. She must not leave her suit under any circumstances because it might attract the Tunneler. The Tunneler was a great mystery for most of the story. Nobody knew what kind of creatures they are and what propelled them to attack humans. The only known fact was that solo cavers fare much better than groups of cavers. The explanation reveals itself at the end of the book, and it amazed me because of how clever it is.
The Luminous Dead is a peculiar book because of its setting and plot progression. The whole story is set in the cave system, with Gyre having limited human contact for weeks. Instead of a whole team on the other side of the speaker, there was only one woman, Em. At first, Gyre was suspicious of Em, worrying about the legitimacy of the mission and Em's expertise. At the beginning of their mission, Em was reserved, talking only when needed, even avoiding answering Gyre's questions. Eventually, it became clear that trust must be built between two women if the mission was to be successful. Their conversations became longer, more detailed, and personal, but also tenser. Gyre was in a situation where she had to rely on and put her life in the hands of a person she had never met.
As Gyre traveled deeper into the cave, she realized Em hadn't been completely honest about the mission's goal. Em showed her vulnerable side by figuratively showing Gyre the skeletons in her closet. Those skeletons turned into ghosts which continued to haunt Gyre until the very end of her mission. What was supposed to be an uneventful climbing, walking, and diving mission, turned into a claustrophobic schism. After discovering that one of the supply packages, left by previous cavers, has gone missing, Gyre becomes convinced someone else was in the cave with her. With every new day, she was more paranoid and anxious, her thoughts spiraling into oblivion. Sterling's writing perfectly captured the anxious logic behind spiraling thoughts, which eventually lead to our protagonist hallucinating. Being in an enclosed space for a long time with the outside world far beyond your reach would drive anyone mad. Gyre did her best to regain her sense of calm, with the help of anxiolytics administered through the suit, but it wasn't enough. Her uncontrollable mental anguish climaxed at the end when she purposefully opened her helmet to talk to a hallucination, thus attracting an uninvited guest.
The more I think about this book, the more it fascinates me. The Luminous Dead is Sterling's debut novel, published in 2019. While I do have plenty of praise for the novel, I have a few complaints. Firstly, the length of the book. I don't mind a long book, but I think some parts could have been shortened or omitted. There is a lot of meandering in the story. I know one must climb a lot in a cave, but those parts eventually become repetitive. Also, the language used for the climbing equipment, and descriptions of traversing through the cave system were not my favorite. I had a difficult time visualizing some of the scenes and I did not appreciate the blankness in my mind. Though that did contribute to the story's overall claustrophobia and disorientation. The protagonist's anxiety was portrayed too well because it caused me to feel that specific anxious feeling where something is wrong, but you don't know what. Bare that in mind if you want to read this but have some sort of anxiety disorder, it could trigger you.
Secondly, I am divided about Gyre and Em's relationship. On one hand, it evolved a lot through the story, but it felt insincere to me. This was an obvious example of trauma bonding, which is why I was not too fond of the ending. I won't go into details because that would require more backstory, and I want this to be spoiler free. Another complaint is the story did not have enough elements to be sci-fi. Despite the little explanation in the end, the Tunneler remained a largely unobtrusive presence. I wish there was more lore involving them. In the end, The Luminous Dead is a story about grief, selfishness, and obsession, and if that is something you want to see explored, this is the book for you. Similar books are Dead Silence, and Our Wives Under the Sea.
While inside the caves, Gyre is wearing a special type of battery-powered suit which monitors her vitals, allows communication with a team of experts, shows her sonar reconstructions of the path ahead, and makes it easier to ingest food. Before her mission, Gyre had surgery where her intestines were modified to ingest mashed food through her suit, and she had other modifications making bathroom breaks unnecessary. That was an interesting solution to the problem of wearing a suit for extended periods. She must not leave her suit under any circumstances because it might attract the Tunneler. The Tunneler was a great mystery for most of the story. Nobody knew what kind of creatures they are and what propelled them to attack humans. The only known fact was that solo cavers fare much better than groups of cavers. The explanation reveals itself at the end of the book, and it amazed me because of how clever it is.
The Luminous Dead is a peculiar book because of its setting and plot progression. The whole story is set in the cave system, with Gyre having limited human contact for weeks. Instead of a whole team on the other side of the speaker, there was only one woman, Em. At first, Gyre was suspicious of Em, worrying about the legitimacy of the mission and Em's expertise. At the beginning of their mission, Em was reserved, talking only when needed, even avoiding answering Gyre's questions. Eventually, it became clear that trust must be built between two women if the mission was to be successful. Their conversations became longer, more detailed, and personal, but also tenser. Gyre was in a situation where she had to rely on and put her life in the hands of a person she had never met.
As Gyre traveled deeper into the cave, she realized Em hadn't been completely honest about the mission's goal. Em showed her vulnerable side by figuratively showing Gyre the skeletons in her closet. Those skeletons turned into ghosts which continued to haunt Gyre until the very end of her mission. What was supposed to be an uneventful climbing, walking, and diving mission, turned into a claustrophobic schism. After discovering that one of the supply packages, left by previous cavers, has gone missing, Gyre becomes convinced someone else was in the cave with her. With every new day, she was more paranoid and anxious, her thoughts spiraling into oblivion. Sterling's writing perfectly captured the anxious logic behind spiraling thoughts, which eventually lead to our protagonist hallucinating. Being in an enclosed space for a long time with the outside world far beyond your reach would drive anyone mad. Gyre did her best to regain her sense of calm, with the help of anxiolytics administered through the suit, but it wasn't enough. Her uncontrollable mental anguish climaxed at the end when she purposefully opened her helmet to talk to a hallucination, thus attracting an uninvited guest.
The more I think about this book, the more it fascinates me. The Luminous Dead is Sterling's debut novel, published in 2019. While I do have plenty of praise for the novel, I have a few complaints. Firstly, the length of the book. I don't mind a long book, but I think some parts could have been shortened or omitted. There is a lot of meandering in the story. I know one must climb a lot in a cave, but those parts eventually become repetitive. Also, the language used for the climbing equipment, and descriptions of traversing through the cave system were not my favorite. I had a difficult time visualizing some of the scenes and I did not appreciate the blankness in my mind. Though that did contribute to the story's overall claustrophobia and disorientation. The protagonist's anxiety was portrayed too well because it caused me to feel that specific anxious feeling where something is wrong, but you don't know what. Bare that in mind if you want to read this but have some sort of anxiety disorder, it could trigger you.
Secondly, I am divided about Gyre and Em's relationship. On one hand, it evolved a lot through the story, but it felt insincere to me. This was an obvious example of trauma bonding, which is why I was not too fond of the ending. I won't go into details because that would require more backstory, and I want this to be spoiler free. Another complaint is the story did not have enough elements to be sci-fi. Despite the little explanation in the end, the Tunneler remained a largely unobtrusive presence. I wish there was more lore involving them. In the end, The Luminous Dead is a story about grief, selfishness, and obsession, and if that is something you want to see explored, this is the book for you. Similar books are Dead Silence, and Our Wives Under the Sea.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
bowden's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Vomit, Death of parent, Medical content, Gore, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A slow but tense book about a woman who gets more than she bargained for signing up for a mysterious underground expedition with a paycheque that was too good to be true. I liked the descriptions of the caving itself and the push and pull between the main characters, the caver and her handler. I do think Em wound up being a bit too soft (and it's sort of weird imo that she's so young considering she's already sent over 20 expeditions into this cave by the time Gyre tries it) and the Tunneler was scarier before the baffling decision near the end to force a confrontation with it but overall great book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Vomit
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Animal death, and Body horror
sphinxofblackquartz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Death
Minor: Medical content
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content, Gaslighting, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Murder, Abandonment, Vomit, and Classism
Minor: Suicide and Excrement
Nonconsensual drugging, loss of bodily autonomy. Overdose. Hallucinations, paranoia, surveillance, unreality. Descriptions of bodies in various states of decay. Limb loss.